NBA Finals Game Five Recap: James and Irving Combine for 82

NBA Finals Game Five Recap; Cavaliers Stay Alive With Series at 3-2

NBA Finals Game Five Recap

Game 5 of the NBA Finals was somewhat a coming out party for young Kyrie Irving and more of a reminder of greatness for LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs were down 3-1 in the best of seven series against the defending champion Warriors and the reigning 2-time MVP, but came out victorious in Game 5.

Uncle Drew (if you haven’t seen the Pepsi commercials with he and Kevin Love you haven’t lived) and The King went out of their minds last night and willed their team to victory in the hostile Oracle Arena. Hitting contested shots, playing elite defense and making the right plays down the stretch were all staples of the win for the Cavs that had went missing in Game 4.

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LeBron set the tone early by driving to the lane and imposing his will on the smaller Warriors’ defenders who really had no answer for him all night. Then to end the game, Kyrie finished the deal by scoring 12 of his 41 points in the 4th quarter, literally taking on whoever dared to match up with him one-on-one.

The Cavs’ bench and supporting cast gave support and production throughout the game as well, especially on the defensive end. It allowed them to live to fight another day on Thursday back in Cleveland.

The loss of their brash, outspoken and dynamic leader, Draymond Green, was too much for the Warriors to overcome to capture their second consecutive championship on their home court. The Warriors’ defensive rotations were a tad bit slow and too soft all night, leading to easy buckets at times for the Cavs and LeBron in particular.

Klay Thompson did his best to keep the Warriors afloat by raining 3’s in the first half , but his fellow “Splash Brother” Stephen Curry could never fully join the party and was not very effective from the field. After Bogut’s leg injury in the 2nd half, the Warriors went ultra small to their detriment and were never able to play themselves back in the game because of personnel deficiencies. The superstars have to get the job done and play at a high level on the road in a series like this — exactly what Kyrie and Lebron did in Game 5.

Will this translate into another interesting game on Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena due to the explosion of the Warriors superstar players? We will see.